J.J. Abrams sells robot cop pilot to Fox

TV mega-producer J.J. Abrams has sold an action-packed buddy cop show to Fox that’s set in the near future, when all Los Angeles police officers are partnered with highly evolved human-like androids.

J.H. Wyman (Fringe) will be the showrunner on the Warner Bros. project. Both Wyman and Abrams are executive producers along with Bryan Burk.

The untitled drama has a pilot production commitment from the network. Of course, we can’t help but reminded of that other robot cop project. No, not Robocop. The TV show. And, no, not Robocop the TV show, either. Don’t you remember… Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E?

By having androids, of course, the Fox project takes a page from TNG’s Data rather than the clunky mechanical route. Cast a human actor, dial back the emotion, occasionally have a shot of wires under the skin, and there you have it — robot!

What do you think?

UPDATE: Obviously, the Abrams/Wyman project will be a cool grown-up take on the robot-cop genre so I don’t want to get too sidetracked here. But somebody mentioned another Los Angeles-set robot cop partner show in the comments. I had not heard of this one before. Let me set the stage: NBC, 1992, Dick Wolf. Give up for … Mann & the Machine!

Gotta say: Mann & the Machine? Looks way funnier than Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E.